Diet disasters happen.

Despite a strong declaration of independence from overeating and under-moving, we fall back into old patterns.When there is a weekend holiday, such as the Fourth of July, added into the mix, the eating (and maybe drinking) isn’t just a little more than we planned. It is often way more, so much more it leaves us feeling out of control and questioning our ability or even desire to regain the control!

Why bother?

There will be more fattening food, more cold beer, more frozen drinks.

I like to relax in the summer; I’ll get back on track in the fall.

There are 4 good reasons not to go “back on a diet.”

Here’s a fifth reason not to go back on a diet.

5. Diets are temporary and restrictive. They get in the way of your living your life and when the diet is over, the weight comes back.

Forget about diets and disasters.

You can achieve your weight-related goals by incorporating some new routines into your day!

These routines are user-friendly. Getting started is easy and sticking with them can become habits. They become part of your operating system. It just feels right to do it, and wrong if you don’t. It’s the kind of wrong feeling we get if we don’t brush our teeth!

Eat fruit or vegetables with every meal.

Fruit and vegetables high in nutrients and fiber. They can fill up your plate without adding a lot of calories.

Snack on fruit and vegetables.

This is one group of food where portion control isn’t so important. You can eat fruit and vegetables to satisfy hunger without being concerned that you’re eating too much. They are easy-to-eat, easy-to-pack snacks. Keep your favorite fruit and vegetables handy as a strategy for avoiding snacking on foods with added fats and sugars and not much nutritional value.

Break up sitting with movement.

Try to get up and walk five minutes for every hour of sitting. It’s an easy strategy to help you reach a goal of taking 10,000 steps a day.

Wear comfortable shoes.

The more steps you take, them more flexibility you will have with your eating. If you move a lot you can worry less about how much you’re eating. Little bites, licks and tastes (which can really add up) will have less of an effect on your weight-related goals if you’re taking 10,000 steps a day.

Discover forms of entertainment that get you up and moving and are so much fun you do it because you love it, not because “it’s good for you.”

Explore interests and passions to find ways to move that are so much fun you wouldn’t want to stop even if they made you fat. It might help to take lessons in your desired activity to avoid hurting yourself and to get more proficient quickly. That will increase your pleasure and that helps to make it a priority.

The “diet disaster” was a warning signal that diets don’t fit your lifestyle. There’s no need to be mad at yourself. You now have information that will help you adjust your weight and fitness strategies with your life.

Start right now to live a healthier lifestyle and never suffer another diet disaster again!

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is the general manager of Weight Watchers of Maine. She is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. Her experience with her own weight management journey and raising girls has given her insight into the struggles families face with weight, healthy body image, food and physical activity. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news for more than ten years and appears monthly as a guest on FOX network morning program Good Day Maine.

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Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is the general manager of Weight Watchers of Maine. She is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. Her experience with her own weight management journey and raising girls has given her insight into the struggles families face with weight, healthy body image, food and physical activity. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news for more than ten years and appears monthly as a guest on FOX network morning program Good Day Maine.